There is tragically no music video for Charli XCX and Lorde’s remix of “Girl, so confusing.” But if there were, I imagine it would look a lot like I Love LA‘s first episode.
Rachel Sennott’s HBO comedy follows a Los Angeles-based friend group, at the center of which is junior talent manager Maia (Sennott) and her bestie and rising It Girl client Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). While the pair eventually resolve to take L.A. by storm, their relationship in the series begins in a much frostier place, one reminiscent of the unspoken resentment and insecurities in Charli XCX’s original version of “Girl, so confusing” from brat.
On that track, the singer wonders whether the target of the song — first implied, then outright confirmed to be Lorde — likes her or hates her. “Can’t tell if you wanna see me / Falling over and failing,” she sings, a feeling that applies to both the pressures of the music industry that she and Lorde are navigating and to fraught friendships in general.
Case in point: Maia and Tallulah. The pair were originally meant to move from New York to L.A. together, before Tallulah bailed on the plan. In the years since, Maia has primarily experienced Tallulah through social media, watching Tallulah’s star rise as she books high-profile projects like a Marc Jacobs Heaven campaign. In the early moments of the show, Maia obsesses over Tallulah’s Instagram posts, even though she’s had her muted. She’s obsessed with the image of Tallulah’s success, and also with what Tallulah thinks of her — or if she even does anymore.
Credit: Kenny Laubbacher / HBO
Maia winds up blocking Tallulah as an act of 27th birthday rebelliousness. Little does she know, Tallulah is on her way to L.A. at that very moment to surprise her for her birthday. From that point on, it’s hell for Maia. Tallulah hijacks her day, begging for a beach trip, inviting herself to dinner, and later getting a hotel suite for a party Maia didn’t even want. (To add insult to injury, Tallulah gets the suite by saying it’s her own birthday — that way she can post about it in exchange for a free party.) Throughout, she flaunts her success in New York, her rich boyfriend, and her Balenciaga bag. It’s Maia’s worst nightmare: Her college friend seemingly made the right call in abandoning her, while she’s stuck in a stagnating career.
As Maia spirals, she cooks up lies to make it seem like she’s doing far better than she really is. She claims she got a promotion when she didn’t. She brags that she and her boss Alyssa (Leighton Meester) are thick as thieves, when Alyssa barely gives her the time of day. The lies and Tallulah’s antics pile up until Maia can’t take it anymore, leaving her and Tallulah to battle it out in the bathroom at her birthday party.
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Here, the truth comes out: Tallulah’s been lying, too. She’s broke, her boyfriend dumped her and kicked her out, and she hasn’t landed anything on the level of the Heaven campaign in a year. Just like Maia thought Tallulah was killing it, Tallulah thought Maia was killing it, and she was hurt by her coldness throughout the weekend. To paraphrase Lorde, both women believed each other’s projection, and now they totally get where the other is coming from.
Tallulah’s revelation is a stunning reversal, one that prompts an honest reconciliation between the friends. They entered the bathroom yelling at each other in anger, but they leave squealing with excitement at what the future holds for the two of them.
Following an entire episode’s worth of passive-aggressive tension, the scene provides the same catharsis as hearing Lorde jump on “Girl, so confusing” and declare she and Charli XCX should “work it out on the remix.” Prior to the release of the remix, people were frothing at the mouth for drama, trying to figure out who the song was about, then wondering how Lorde would feel or respond. The remix proved a much more joyful conclusion, an honest apology of how one’s own insecurities can harm relationships with others.
Similarly, before the bathroom scene, I was ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight between Maia and Tallulah. And after only seeing things from Maia’s perspective for much of the episode, I was just as infuriated with Tallulah as she was. (Multiple times during my first watch, I just wrote down, “Ugh, Tallulah.”) Still, seeing the two air their grievances and immediately come crashing back into their friendship ended up being far more freeing and rewarding than any catfight. And while “Girl, so confusing feat. Lorde” doesn’t actually feature in I Love LA, its spirit shines through in Maia and Tallulah’s makeup.
That might not be all for Charli XCX in the series, though. Sennott has spoken about wanting to cast her in future seasons of I Love LA, telling co-star Jordan Firstman in an Elle interview that “it would be fun to have Charli [XCX] on as something so different from herself.” The pop star has already played herself on Overcompensating, with hilarious results. Could she complete the 2025 zillenial sitcom trifecta with future roles in I Love LA and Adults?
New episodes of I Love LA premiere Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.